Celebrating the adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act, July is Disability Pride Month! As the home of the National Center on Accessibility, the Eppley Center for Parks and Public Lands is proud to advance the cause of access and inclusion for people with disabilities, regardless of age, gender, race, or need.
Disability Pride Month has been celebrated since the original signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 (which, would prompt the creation of the National Center on Accessibility a few years later!), but it is celebrating more than just the passage of a single law. It honors the efforts people with disabilities put into the fight for civil rights and celebrates the progress made. Ranging from the fight for Section 504 (to learn more, watch the documentary Crip Camp) and the 504 sit-ins, to the Capitol Crawl which paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is the actions of Disabled people that have secured the right to fully enjoy the world around them, including park and recreation spaces.
As we celebrate, Eppley believes it is important not to rest upon our laurels. At the Eppley Center for Parks and Public Lands, we continually work with agencies and not profit organizations, and our communities, to ensure that recreation, parks, the outdoors, and community experiences are accessible, and more so, inclusive. By providing training – such as our accessibility e-courses or site assessments, including our recent site assessments at northeastern Indiana State Parks, cutting-edge research – like the trail surface study conducted under the National Center on Accessibility, or more recent projects like the Park Autism Research Knowledge Synthesis project – we hope to make our world more welcoming for everyone.